The main challenge that the project faced was to intervene in the interior of the existing building, the work of the Catalan architect Josep María Sostres, without touching the reinforced concrete structure, and to adapt the first floor, in line with present day regulations, paying particular attention to the need for the centre to be adapted to those regulations in terms of accessibility and fire fighting safety.
To begin with, this requirement involved the establishment of newly adapted accesses and emergency exits, for the first floor, with the problem of the emergency exit stairways being solved by locating them as two excepted elements, which do not intervene in the original elevation, and allow for the building’s full, original expressivity to be preserved.
The spaces alongside the light wells were also enclosed with curved U-Glass walls, allowing light from the light wells to illuminate the interior corridors. At the same time, the spaces near the façades have been separated off by partition wall furnishings, made up of phenolic resin panels finished in bright colours. As the partitions are not full height they also allow light to pass over the top.
